


Finding You Again

by magi06rose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Multi, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Original planet, Timeskip, alternate au, eventual Klance, side shallura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-03 12:33:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8714104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magi06rose/pseuds/magi06rose
Summary: Two years since Team Voltron lost Lance from the Galra. The team still never gave up however, especially for the red paladin Keith. He gets sent to a solo mission to a planet called Loamect when he meets a local resident running from the Galra. Meanwhile, the rest of the team find something strange amiss elsewhere in planet and decide to investigate. Will Keith find the answers he's been looking for in the new planet he is sent into?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Exams are coming up, and in times when you feel too pressured to continue studying, do somethings else to relax you mind a bit. In my case, I started a new fanfic for this series that I've been meaning to do, and it'll be a multi-chapter this time. Hope everyone enjoys it.

Armored beings ran through the unknown jungle of a faraway planet. There was but one small girl crouching down in the natural covers of the giant leaves provided by the land. Soon enough, after the sounds of clanking armor and gears were gone, the leaves were pushed. The girl turned her attention to a tall, black-clothed figure in front of her, though rather than being scared she jumped up and wrapped her arms around them.

 

“Are you ok?” A deep masculine voice said from the other figure; it also sounded like he spoke through a mask. The girl nods on his shoulder before he soothed her back.

 

“Stay here. I’ll direct them to the opposite direction.” This time the girl shakes her head and tightens her hold on him. He could feel her shaking.

 

“No go! No go!” the girl whispers.

 

“I can’t let you join me. I need you safe.”

 

“No! No go! Stay!” the girl replies next as she continues to shake her head. The man loosens her hold and puts his hands on her cheeks to force her to face him.

 

“Listen to me. I cannot place you in the same danger I’m putting myself into. I want you to be safe.”

 

“N-No…” The girl’s voice was starting to sound like it’s breaking. “Papa here. No go. No go!”

 

“Don’t worry, I won’t disappear on you. Never.”

 

“ **NO**!”

 

“ **Lex**!” the man yells. Lex, in response, starts to cry, but her papa began to wipe the incoming tears. She stares shockingly at him as he holds up a gloved hand, curling all of his fingers except for his pinkie.

 

“I promise. See?” The girl looks back and forth between him and his hand.

 

“...Promise?”

 

“Promise.” He continued to stare at her, seeing her eyes still gleam with uncertainty until he gave it some thought. “ Remember our home? With the flag on top?”

 

“...Home…” The man nods.

 

“I will meet you there, no matter what. We’ll see each other back home. I promise you this Lex.” Silence filled the area around them for a moment; the hand he held up was still right in front of Lex. She sniffled a bit before looking once more at papa with one more question.

 

“...Lex zoom zoom?” He nods again.

 

“Yeah. Zoom zoom as much as you want, and I’ll be there as soon as I can. I trust you Lex.” Lex took a sharp inhale of air and stood still for a minute before curling his pinkie with her own.

 

“Come home Papa. Papa promise.”

 

“Yeah. I promise.” Both Lex and her papa immediately turn their heads at the returning source of clanking and gears. Lex’s papa looks back at her.

 

“Wait until no one is around, then run away.  Don’t be seen. Don’t get noticed by anyone. Just zoom zoom as fast as you can back home.” Lex nods, and so he gives her one more assuring hug.

 

“Good girl. I’ll see you soon.”

 

Leaving a gentle rub on her head, he rushes back out on the field and calls the attention of the new group of soldiers to a faraway direction. After waiting a bit for any other suspicious noises, Lex sprints out of her own hiding place to the opposite direction with tears coming out from the sides.

 

“Papa.”

 

* * *

 

Peace resided at another part of the jungle until a giant mechanical red lion appeared out of nowhere in the midst of it. Soon enough it opened its mouth to let out its pilot - a red and white space-suit man with a mullet hidden by his helmet. This man was also known as Keith, the red paladin of the mighty mecha, Voltron, who decided to help save the universe from the clutches of the Galra Empire. He turned his head left and right to scour the area before he set foot on the earth, until he received a beeping noise, a call, from his helmet and answered to it.

 

“This is Red. Red to Castle. Can you hear me from up there?” Keith uses the code names they decided long ago in case the enemy eavesdropped their conversation.

 

“...This is Black reporting from Castle.” Shiro, the leader of the legendary defender team, replied. “We hear you loud and clear.”

 

“How’s it looking over there?” Shiro asks.

 

“Well, it’s pretty… green?”

 

“What a wonderful description Keith” the green paladin, Pidge, sarcastically replies. “A+ for you man.”

 

“Hahaha, very funny. What I meant to say is that it’s so full of life. It doesn’t even look like civilization has begun yet here on uh... Loamect was it?”

 

“Correct Keith, but remember, looks can be deceiving” another voice, the Altean princess, Allura, replies. “ Best save your judgement until you look around more, and stay on your guard at all times. The last signal we picked up from the Galra ship definitely came from this planet, so it may be that the Galra have devised a way to hide themselves in its natural habitats.”

 

“Oh no, perhaps this was a bad idea guys.” Keith picks up another voice, the yellow paladin Hunk, in his receiver. “Maybe all of us should go together as a group, instead of just Keith, and look for that jammer?”

 

“Hunk, we have no idea where the Galra base is, so the castle will definitely catch their attention if we landed anywhere near them” says Allura.

 

“Plus I’ve only been able to add the invisibility modification to my lion and Red only.” Pidge follows up. “If only the Galra didn’t destroy the previous ones” they mumbled to themselves.

 

“Don’t worry about it Pidge” Shiro answers since Pidge was standing next to him, at least that’s what Keith assumed by the volume of their voices.

 

“...Maybe I should have-”

 

“No.”

 

“But-”

 

“You just recovered from our last run-in with the Galra. It’s too soon to put you out there.” Shiro explains. Keith could imagine Pidge sulking at the side, possibly whining and making excuses about their health.

 

Basically, the situation is this - the team’s most recent clash against the Galra contained a prototype jammer that can allow other, unregistered ships lose worldwide communication. Team Voltron swiped in another victory, but not without some consequences. Pidge, in the attempt of stealing more data from the enemy, was left unconscious for a few days from a surprise bash in the head at the near end. Luckily, they still managed to retrieve the data in some Pidge-like way, as well as destroyed all but one ship, which also contained the jammer.

 

Now, Team Voltron had found the ship in the jungle-filled planet, Loamect. By the time Pidge was woke up and was caught up to speed, Keith was already chosen on a solo scouting mission to find the jammer, its ship, and the possible Galra base that the ship might have landed in. That was everything Keith could remember up until now, as he listens in on the rest of the team.

 

“Now now, let’s try to put our faith in Keith” Coran joins in. “According to the training statistics, Keith is actually suited for this kind of job. Heck, both him and his lion are speedy with hard punches for anyone that gets in their way. If anything we’re to go wrong, he can stall long enough for the rest of you to get there.”

 

“Sure, but-”

 

“We already chose to do this everyone.” Shiro interrupts. “Like what Coran is trying to say, let's put our faith in Keith. Got it Red?”

 

“Yeah. Thanks Black.” Shiro, at the castle, nods.

 

“Remember, find the base or the ship. Either one as long as the jammer is there, and when you do head back to your lion and report what you saw. Nothing else. Ok?”

 

“Yes...But what if-”

 

“Red” Shiro calmly says, though Keith could feel his strict tone. “We’ve talked about this. You’re there to scout. That’s it.”

 

“But Shi... B-Black, there might be a chance _he_ could be here as well.” Keith met with silence thereafter; the team back at the castle began to hesitate around Keith’s words, though Shiro took a slow breath before responding back.

 

“Red, if we don’t stop this now it’ll only get harder not just for us, but for every other life being threatened by the Galra. I want to look for _him_ just as much as everyone else does, including you, but right now we need to focus our mission - Voltron’s mission.”

 

“...Ok, but if I find out _he’s_ here, we will rescue _him_.”

 

“Kei-”

 

“Lance is part of this team as well, if case you have forgotten.” Keith stops him from saying his name. “And I haven’t been slacking off my training these past 2 years for this. I can do this, otherwise, I wouldn’t be asking you this.”

 

“I know. I know Lance is important to the team. All of us do.” Shiro says in front of the computer screen. He looks around to see everyone else nod at his beliefs. “But you are as well Keith. Don’t just jump in there without a plan. We need to carefully think this out. Ok?”

 

“...Ok. I’ll go head out now, and report back at the appointed time.”

 

“Good luck Red.” He and Shiro log out and sigh. Up on the castle, Allura walks up to Shiro and puts a hand on his shoulder.

 

“It’ll be ok Shiro. You don’t have to blame yourself for what had happened.” Shiro leans on the machine, though he takes his hand, his human hand, on top of Allura’s hand.

 

“Hopefully, but I still can’t help but think back that I could do something about it. I‘m the leader of Voltron afterall; I should have been there for him.”

 

“It’s probably hardest for Keith. He was there after all when it happened.” Pidge cuts in, a distant tone left in their words as they turn away from the team.

 

“If only we didn’t fight in the first place, then they would have never been in that mess all those years ago.” Hunk follows up. Everyone goes silent from these last two statements for a moment until Allura shakes her head.

 

“The past is the past everyone. We cannot change what has already happened, but that does not mean we cannot change what will happen later. Let’s not give up on them - on Keith, and Lance wherever he may be, and focus on the current mission at hand.”

 

“Allura’s right” Shiro adds. “Let’s just wait for Keith at the moment while we look up for more information on the planet in case Keith finds nothing. Pidge, can you try and devise a way for us to be able to communicate with Keith so he doesn’t have to run back to his lion all the time?”

 

“Don’t worry. I’ve already made and tested prototypes based on what I remember on our satellites back on Earth, but of course way more better than those antiques. I’m also finished up on the new invisibility mods, so I can install them now or later.” Pidge cheekily grins, moving their glasses up.

 

“It’ll be good if you can get those set up as soon as possible. Thanks Pidge, keep up with the good work.”

 

“I’m on it!” Pidge runs out to the lions’ hangar decks when Shiro turns to Hunk.

 

“In the meantime, the two of us should look through the databases on Loamect. Hopefully there’s something we can still use.”

 

“Got it” Hunk replies.

 

“Oh, I’ll help out too” Coran jumps in. “We can finally get to make use of that old library. I certainly haven’t been there in a while. Haha- makes me remember the times when I hid in there to avoid paperwork when I was just starting my job.”

 

“Wait, we have a library?” Hunk asks, following Coran out of the room and leaving Shiro and Allura alone.

 

“You should get some rest yourself Allura.” Shiro turns to the princess. “We’ll be ok. You’ve been up for quite a while trying to find the ship.”

 

“I’ll be fine Shiro, but thanks for your concerns” Allura answer. “I’ll also do my best to help out. When I’m feeling tired, then I’ll take a rest.”

 

“Are you sure? You shouldn’t be pushing yourself so hard.”

 

“Same to you Shiro. You’ve been attaining some extra lines under your eyes for sometime.”

 

“Ah” Shiro became conscious of his looks and looks away in partly embarrassment and partly shame. He didn’t see Allura’s small blush across her cheeks until it went away from a thought.

 

“Anyways, there are still things that I still have to do while I can.” Shiro turns back, feeling the words ‘have to do’ was a bit forced around her mouth.

 

“What do you mean princess?”

 

“...As you know,” Allura starts off with a sigh, “the Blue lion is the most accepting and easiest lion to pilot among the rest. You could say she’s more or less designed to help build the bridge in the relationship between pilot and lion during Voltron’s starting days - at least that’s what my father told me before.”

 

“So the Blue lion was the first to be built?”

 

“No. If I remember correctly, all of them were built at the same time. However, the finishing results on that partner relationship came from the blue lion, and as a consequence her connections with her pilots were… harder to detach.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“She knows when… something bad happens to her pilot, since she can easily form bonds far more stronger than the rest. However, if nothing has happened to them, then she’ll shut herself away from the others, even from the rest of the lions. Only they, as well as myself, can communicate with her in that state, but like her most recent pilot she’s stubborn.”

 

“That’s true” Shiro chuckles a bit along with Allura, trying to lighten the mood a bit, until his face turns serious again. “But princess, I don’t understand where you’re going with this? Is it perhaps… because we’ve been unable to form Voltron since Lance was gone.”

 

Allura was taken back by the leader’s words, knowing it was true, but slowly nods. “Time’s ticking Shiro. Our enemies are getting even stronger. We may have been lucky a few times, but we can’t keep on taking risks anymore like last time.”

 

“So, we’ll have to find a new blue paladin huh? And you’ll have to force Blue to accept that?!”

 

“Not by force; of course not! But she has to realize that we can’t keep this up any longer - that we have to keep going forward whether we find Lance or not.” Allura lowers her head, unable to look at Shiro any longer, but he later noticed the tears that were falling from her eyes.

 

“Princess” he whispers with worry.

 

“I want to look for Lance as well, as much as the rest of the team. I… I hate this as well.” Letting one hiccup pass by, Shiro immediately took Allura on his chest inside her arms. He looks down on the silver head of hair before him as he rubs her back.

 

“It’s ok, i understand. These are just those kinds of choices we have to make whether we want to or not. It's ok to cry Allura. No one will blame you. At least I won’t.” Allura kept hiccuping as she let Shiro’s jacket absorb most of the tears that began to flow out of her with ease. She moves her arms up towards Shiro’s back and hold onto him tight, and Shiro responds back by rubbing soothing circles.

 

“It’s ok. Let it all out. There there.”

 

“Shiro” Allura lets out after a while, tears still coming out. “The others… Pidge, Hunk, Coran… especially Keith… this will be hard to explain to them.”

 

“I know” Shiro responds back. He cups the back of her head and positions it back to his chest to let her continue crying her feelings out. “You won’t be alone when you do it though, and I’m sure they’ll understand. Thank you Allura, for telling me.”

 

The sounds of tears continue to resound throughout the walls of the room, and even the champion, the one who shouldn’t show such feelings as a fellow leader, began to join the princess as well...

 

* * *

 

Keith sighs after he logs out of communications from the castle. With confidence and resolution slowly growing back in his mind, he marches forward into the deep woods of the jungle.

 

“Goddammit Lance, you better have a good explanation when I find you again. I won’t let you go this time around, so you better be safe you idiot!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter this time for now.

Sunset has begun, and in the 5 hours since Keith had arrived, he made no progress whatsoever. Even though it was predicted by himself and the team, he still wished there was at least one clue of the Galra if the spot he landed in was really nearest to where the ship landed.

 

 _Shit, everywhere looks the same!_ He went through the bag he brought with him and took out a PDA Pidge made for him. Searching through it, he opened up a map that showed his position from the Red Lion.

 

_Good thing Pidge made this before I would actually be in trouble… Guess I’ll have to head back for now before it gets dark._

 

Packing and assembling his things, he turns around to walk back when his trained ears pick up something to the west. Keith instinctively runs and checks it out, only to be stopped moments later at the familiar sight of the androidic forms of the Galra soldiers. They’re chasing a tall hooded being clothed in worn out, black outfit, trying to shoot them down, but to no avail. No longer able to watch it any further when the chasee falls down, Keith sprints and rolls to bring up his shield in front of them.

 

“Hey, are you alright?! Don’t worry, I’m here to help.” Taking out his bayard, he charges in and slashes each soldier one by one. Years of experience showed throughout his fight against them. He kept blocking and destroying each one, occasionally dodging a few attacks to create some distance. With another heavy hit at the enemy in front of him, he noticed another group heading toward his direction.

 

 _Hmph, bring it on!_ Keith always felt pride in his strength, bringing countless victories in land battles for Voltron. He attempted to head towards them when he felt pulled backwards to the person/alien he just saved while they throw something to the new soldiers. Afterwards, they immediately lift Keith up their shoulder, further shocking the red paladin, and ran in the opposite direction.

 

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Keith yells, resisting to scream the string of curses running in his mind. “Let go of me! I can-” His head looks to the second group of soldiers when the thing the stranger threw went off, throwing a high-pitched wail that almost made Keith’s ears bleed. He continues watching nevertheless with a hand placed on his helmet, and watches the unfazed soldiers soon be demolished by giant menacing birds attracted by the sound.

 

“...Oh” Keith lets out. He simply stayed still where he was, simply staring at the birds and the broken mechanical limbs flying around until they escape his line of vision.

 

* * *

 

 

Sometime later, Keith, growing tired of his position. The only thing he found interesting was how the grassy ground turn into a rocky terrain before he was dropped to the ground… literally.

 

And it hurt… a lot.

 

“Ouch!” Keith whined, rubbing his back from the pain. He glares up on the stranger, still unable to see their face since the sun almost set to night time. Keith was about to say something when the stranger turns around to leave, prompting him to rush himself back up and grab their arm.

 

“Wait!” He grabs their arm, but realizes how tight he was holding them and releases thereafter. “Sorry… and, uh, thanks - for back there. You seemed to have that situation covered.”

 

Keith felt embarrassed in that moment, as well as a bit of guilt for being unable to do anything else. Things felt awkward, at least for Keith, and looks at an empty space to the side until he notices the stranger rummage through his things for a small jar. 

 

“Oh,” Keith sees them holding it out to him. “For me?” The stranger, rather than saying yes, uses their other hand to point to Keith’s face. Confused, Keith bought up a hand checks around the unguarded parts to feel his left side slightly sting upon touch.

 

“Thank you, but don’t worry about it. It’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine” Keith explains. Nevertheless, the stranger pushes the jar onto Keith’s chest, persisting the item to him. The red paladin clumsily secures the item in one hand, watching the stranger leave again.

 

“Ah, wait! Hold it!” Keith yells, holding more unpleasant words in his tongue. He runs up ahead to the front of them and forces back the jar despite knowing how rude it was he did.

 

“It’s fine, I don’t need it” Keith explains, but later sighs, feeling bad about how he’s acting; still, Keith knew he was also bad with words and scratches the unharmed side of his face. “I’m sorry. You’ve done a lot since we met, but if you can I would like some information instead.” He waited for a response, but got nothing.

 

“I- I know this may be much,” Keith goes on, explaining more, “but I came here to this planet to stop those soldiers we encountered back there. They’re planning on making something that I need to stop from happening, but to do that I need to find their base.” Keith still got nothing from them and sighs.

 

“I’m not alone. I’m from a group called Voltron, and my team aims to stop them from total rule of the universe. They, the Galra… if we can’t stop them here, things will end up bad for the future. So please, can you provide anything? Anything at all, even just pointing at a general direction would help! Please?!”

 

Silence was all that was left between Keith and the stranger, though later they begin to pass through Keith back to the jungle. Fists began to curl up and teeth were clenched against each other. The one who did it all, the red paladin, felt frustrated at gaining nothing from that. He remembers the sessions he got from Allura and Shiro about his temper when it got the best against him and the team, and takes in a couple of deep breathes.

 

“Never mind. Sorry for taking your time.” Sighing, Keith goes off to another direction back his lion until a rock is thrown at his helmet, and he looks at the source to see the stranger look at him.

 

What now? That bastard Keith thinks with irritation. The stranger, unfazed by the glare Keith gave, motions him over. He thought for a moment, unsure if he should, but went for it anyways.

 

“Yeah?” The stranger walks ahead by a few steps, confusing the red paladin again, until they stopped and pointed ahead. Keith didn’t understand, but then thought about his request.

 

“Is that… where the Galra are?” This time, they nod, widening Keith’s eyes.

 

“Really?” Another nod. Keith smiled for the first time since he arrived and and bowed his head.

 

“Thank you very much. Sorry for all the trouble I caused. Take care.” He walks ahead, feeling glad that he was finally getting somewhere than running around in circles anymore.

 

 _Now that I got something, I’ll need to contact everyone soon. Maybe I’ll make a mark somewhere so I remember which way to go before I head back to Red._ Keith keeps on walking while thinking of his next steps until he noticed the stranger was walking beside him.

 

“Are you perhaps walking back home? If you want, I can walk with you there if it’s on the way, in case more Galra show up.” The stranger shakes their head and points to Keith.

 

“Me? ...Wait, are you taking me to the base itself?” They nod this time.

 

“Oh” Keith remarks. Part of him felt like rejecting the offer, but he didn’t want to be more rude than he already was. Instead, he gives up with a sigh and looks back at his new travelling companion.

 

“Ok, if you want to. Make sure you stick close to me then. It’ll be bad if anything happens to you midway.” And I still owe you one he mumbles to himself. He notices the stranger stop and turns to them. A few moments later, they pull out from the inside of their coat two guns slightly bigger than pistol guns, destroying one of the big boulders at the rock quarry they were in. The stranger puts back their guns in its place and looks at a surprised Keith momentarily before going on ahead of him again. Keith himself looked back and forth between his companion and the rock quarry as his eye twitched.

 

 _That jerk. If they had those all along, they should have used them in the first place…_ Keith runs back to the stranger until they stood side by side.

 

“A couple of more things to know,” Keith adds, “If we’re going to the base together, I need to check quickly with my lion and contact my team there because I can’t do it anywhere else.” They nod.

 

“Also-” Keith stops, prompting the stranger to stop, and holds out his hand. “I’m Keith, the red paladin of Voltron.”

 

He continues to stare at him, hoping he didn’t mess up anything. Keith felt glad from the bottom of his heart once his hand was taken and shook with.

 

“Du-” He heard a low voice whisper. Keith looked around, hoping nothing strange was near them, until his eyes laid on his new, temporary partner once again.

 

“Du...lac” Keith heard again, certain it was from the man in front of him.

 

“Du...lac. Dulac?” He nods. Keith smiles.

 

“Let’s do our best Dulac.”

 

With one last nod, confirming their partnership, they continue towards the Red Lion.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I'm still tearing up writing about Shiro and Allura T_T


End file.
